Upcoming Summer 2024 Workshops:

August 9, 10 &11

Hear My Soul Speak:
Shakespeare, the Voices of Women, & the Natural World

A Workshop for Everyone.

with Tori Rhoades, and distinguished guest, Tina Packer

Lenox, Massachusetts

(Due to unforeseen life circumstances, we had to revise our June Workshop. It is now scheduled for August.)
We hope you can join us, and enjoy your time in the Berkshires while taking a deep - and brief - dive along with us!

This workshop is for…

• Performers, Directors, Teachers, Counselors, Writers, Students (18 & up), and Lovers-of-Shakespeare who happen to work in other professions.

• Some experience with Shakespeare is recommended, but not required.

WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION & EXPLORING QUESTIONS:

We invite you to play with Shakespeare’s text, traditions of dance, exercises in movement and voice and thoughtful discussion. Asking essential questions that resonate with our varied experiences of the world, we will journey through three of Shakespeare’s plays: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, A Winter’s Tale, and King Lear. Exploring the archetypal Feminine in Shakespeare, and the obstacles women in the plays come up against as they strive to speak, engage in relationship and make themselves known in the world, we will ask questions about ourselves and resonance in our own world. Engaging with themes of embodied voice and relationship, culture, democracy, gender and the roles we are taught - or forced - to play in order to survive in the world, we will create space to explore themes around the human desire for connection - to be truly seen, and heard and known - in Shakespeare’s world, as well as our own.

• We will ask you to choose 2-10 lines of text from one of the three plays that resonates with you in some way, and that touches - somehow - on nature. Everyone will be invited to work with their text, but you are not required to do so… Some participants may work in more depth than others.

• Everyone will have the opportunity to participate in group exercises, discussion, dance, walks in nature, and creative explorations. This workshop is designed to ask you to move and use your voice. Please let us know if you have any limitations.

• Where does Shakespeare take you? what can you learn from his words, the story, the character - that you may not have realized before? is that something you totally love? something that frightens you, or disturbs or horrifies you? what do you discover in his words about your relationship to Nature, or the natural world?

Dates, Times & Locations…

Note: Time details may shift slightly.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 9th -
Edith Wharton’S, The Mount -
2 Plunket STreet, Lenox, MA 01240

9a-9:45a - Registration and Settling-In - The Stables, at The Mount
10a-12:30p - The Workshop Begins - The Stables and grounds of The Mount
12:30-1:30 - Lunch Break - on your own in town or bring a lunch and enjoy it on the property grounds.
1:30-3:45 - Continue Workshop - The Stables and grounds of the Mount
Travel up the road to Shakespeare & Co.
4p - 6p - Continue Workshop - Studio 2, Shakespeare & Co.

Enjoy your evening!
We will ask you to spend 15-30 minutes responding to a free-writing reflection in preparation for the next day.
Housing is not provided. We recommend AirBNB or local motels/hotels.
We will attempt to find local people who may wish to offer a room at a lower cost.

saturday, August 10th -
Studio 2, Bernstein Center Shakespeare & Company
70 Plunkett Street, Lenox, MA 01240

8:30-9:15 - Optional Walk on the Grounds of The Mount

9:30-12:30a - Begin Day 2 - Bernstein Center at Shakespeare & Co
12:30-1:30 - Lunch Break - on your own in town or bring a lunch and enjoy it on the property grounds.
1:30-6p - Complete Day 2 - Bernstein Center at Shakespeare & Co

Enjoy your evening!
We will ask you to spend 15-30 minutes responding to a free-writing reflection in preparation for the next day.
Housing is not provided. We recommend AirBNB or local motels/hotels.
We will attempt to find local people who may wish to offer a room at a lower cost.

Sunday, august 11th -
studio 2, bernstein center, shakespeare & Company
70 Kemble STreet, Lenox, mA 01240

8:30-9:15 - Optional Walk on the Grounds of the Mount

9:30-12:30 - Begin Day 3 - Bernstein Center at Shakespeare & Co
12:30-1:30 - Lunch Break - on your own in town or bring a lunch and enjoy it on the property grounds.
1:30-4:30p - Complete Day 3 - Bernstein Center at Shakespeare & Co

TO REGISTER…

• Please send an email using the button above, or directly to thesagecenter@icloud.com with the following information:

  • Your NAME, ADDRESS, PHONE NUMBER

  • A BRIEF statement, sharing why you would like to participate in this workshop.

  • If you have not worked with us before, or if it has been a long while, please include a resume, or short description of the type of work you do, and your interest in this program. You may include a photo. If we know you well, this is not necessary.

• We will reply and send you a direct link to make your payment deposit.

  PAYMENT

  • There are FOUR Payment Options

    • 1) PAY-IT-FORWARD: $475-525
      a range of payment options so you might help someone else to participate in the workshop.

    • 2) STANDARD FEE: $425

    • 3) DISCOUNTED RATE: $350-400
      a range of payment options if your current expenses are such that you cannot do the standard fee at this time.

    • 4) For ARTISTS and OTHERS: $250-325
      a range of payment options if you are at a moment where you are struggling to make ends meet, but could really use this workshop for your creative soul!

    • Work-assistance Scholarship - If you have administrative skills and some time, please enquire, and you may assist us with administration preparation, and participate in the workshop. (There is 1 spot available for work assistance - possibly another partial assistantship - please inquire as soon as possible.)

      DEPOSITS

      **50% of the payment is required to reserve your spot. The remaining 50% is due 7 days prior to the workshop. There are no refunds of the deposit less than 4 weeks prior to the workshop start date. There are no partial refunds less than 7 days prior to the workshop. We are very sorry for this, but it is difficult to fill a spot at the last minute, unless there is an active waiting list and a participant willing to take your spot. Thank you for your understanding.
      

PAPERWORK, GENERAL RELEASES, ETC.
These, along with a general agreement of conduct and more specific workshop information will be sent to you following your initial application proces.

THIS WORKSHOP HAS LIMITED SPACES AVAILBLE!

LAND ACKNOWLeDgement

In appreciation of the land of the Mohican Nation, upon which The Mount sits, we are grateful for the opportunity to be among the majestic trees, rocks and running brook which were home to the tribe now called the Stockbridge-Munsee Community. On Friday, and during optional early-morning walks on Saturday and Sunday, we will work amongst the stables and gardens which surround the home developed by Edith Wharton, using the theatre space of The Stable for our class on Friday.

On Saturday and Sunday, we will work in Studio 2 of Shakespeare & Company’s Bernstein Production Center, also on the land of the Mohican Nation, in the buildings of the former Lenox School for Boys, rebuilt with the financial support of former S&Co Trustee and friend, Elaine Bernstein. Elaine was also an experienced Educator and a supporter of women, children, artists and educators.

We are working in coordination with the other programming at The Mount and Shakespeare & Company. Our hours are slightly different from other weekend workshops due to this coordinated programming effort. We leave the evenings free for time to visit area cultural attractions, and to reflect on the day through daily “homework” or free-writing journal exercises.

Photos from our June 2023 Workshop: “Thou Nature…” Shakespeare, Gender & the Natural World. (photos by Scott Langley and Victoria Rhoades)